Shocking historical tidbit.
Still from the book on Prohibition I'm listening to.
Quick background for my non-American friends (and my American friends who were asleep that day in Government class in high school), the US government takes a census every ten years, and then reapportions the House of Representatives based on that census, ensuring that each House member represents roughly an equal number of people. There was a census last year, and the results only came out a couple weeks ago, so although the districts still need to be redrawn, we already know that Northern states are going to lose seats, and Southern and Western states are going to gain seats.
Anyway.
What I just learned is that Congress disliked the results of the 1920 census - which showed a massive gain in population in Northern urban areas due to immigration - so much that they never reapportioned the House. They just...didn't do it. Because they were a bunch of xenophobes. They just didn't like the idea that good Americans would have seats taken away from them to serve foreigners (who didn't even speak English!) in New York and Detroit and Philadelphia and Chicago.
Well, I was shocked.
Quick background for my non-American friends (and my American friends who were asleep that day in Government class in high school), the US government takes a census every ten years, and then reapportions the House of Representatives based on that census, ensuring that each House member represents roughly an equal number of people. There was a census last year, and the results only came out a couple weeks ago, so although the districts still need to be redrawn, we already know that Northern states are going to lose seats, and Southern and Western states are going to gain seats.
Anyway.
What I just learned is that Congress disliked the results of the 1920 census - which showed a massive gain in population in Northern urban areas due to immigration - so much that they never reapportioned the House. They just...didn't do it. Because they were a bunch of xenophobes. They just didn't like the idea that good Americans would have seats taken away from them to serve foreigners (who didn't even speak English!) in New York and Detroit and Philadelphia and Chicago.
Well, I was shocked.